Process for making fibrous bristles



Au .27, 1946. NVERBEKE "2,406,707

' PROCESS FOR MAKING FIBROUS BRISTLES Filed Feb. 3, 1942 Patented Aug.27, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PROCESS FOR MAKING FIBROUS BRISTLESJohn Overbeke, Cleveland Heights, Ohio Application February 3, 1942,Serial No. {129,405

3 Claims. 1

My invention relates in general to the process for impregnating afibrous cord and more particularly to a process for making impregnatedbristles for brushes and the like.

An impregnated cord produced by my apparatus and process is suitable forbrushes for industrial purposes or the like. The impregnated cord isrelatively thin and is capable of Withstanding a terrific amount ofsevere abuse in the polishing and surfacingof metals and other materialsrequiring polishing and surfacing. The impregnated cord is thus used forbristles in brushes and the like.

In the practice of my invention, the cord is impregnated with glue orany other suitable viscous substance. The glue or other viscoussubstance may have finely divided abrasive material therein to produce amore vigorous polishing or surfacing action upon the metal or othersubstance being processed. Thus, for example, the glue or other viscoussubstance may have finely divided abrasive materials in the nature ofpowder or in larger particles so long as the abrasive material iscapable of remaining in suspension in the glue or other viscoussubstance during the process of impregnating the cord with the glue. Asused herein, the term glue or other viscous substance is interpreted toinclude the abrasive material or substance therein. Also as used herein,the term glue or viscous glue is meant any viscous liquid which whensoaked into the cord will act as an impregnating and therefor a bindingmedium for anchoring the strands of the cord.

In the impregnation of a cord with glue or other viscous substance, agreat deal of difiiculty has been experienced in forcibly causing theglue or other viscous substance to penetrate the cord and completelyfill the interstices of the cord to render the cord uniform. "In using afibrous impregnated cord as the bristle fora brush, it is essential thatthe bristles be uniformly impregnated throughout their length because ifnonuniformity exists in the impregnation of the cord, some of thebristles will wear away sooner than others leaving the brush in poorcondition to do a good polishing or surfacing operation.

An object of my invention is the process of impregnating a fibrous cordwith glue or other viscous substance so that the impregnation isthoroughly uniform throughout the length of the cord or bristle.

Another object of my invention is to provide for impregnating a roll offibrous cord With viscans glue by unwinding the cord from the roll withthe roll revolving in the glue.

Another object of my invention is to provide for relieving as much aspossible the tension upon the impregnated cord as it is wound upon thetake-up reel.

Another object of my invention is to provide for separating the layersof impregnated cord on the take-up reel by removing the cord from theOther objects and a fuller understanding of my invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 represents a diagrammaticside elevational view of my apparatusfor carrying out the process of impregnating the cord with viscous glueor other viscous material in accordance with my invention; 7

Figure 2 is aperspective view of the equipment shown in Figure l; with amodification in the directional reversing roll;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a side elevational view of atake-up reel and a severing reel employed in carrying out my process;

Figure 4 is a plan elevational View of the equipment shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 illustrates a group of the impregnated layers of cord;

Figure 6 shows a perspective View of a roll of fibrous material which isadapted to be impreg- X nated in accordance with my process;

Figure '7 is a side elevational view of the glue vessel employed in myprocess and'showing the disposition of the rolls of fibrous cord thereinduring the impregnation thereof;

Figure 8 shows a side elevational view of a revolving drying wheelemployed to dry the group of impregnated cord as shown in Figure5; and

Figure 9 is an end View of the revolving drying wheel shown in Figure 8.

With reference to Figures 1, 2 and '7, I illustrate a process andapparatus. for impregnating a fibrous cord H with viscous glue or otherviscous substance contained in a glue vessel l2. The cord II is unwoundfrom a roll of vibrous cord illustrated by the reference character Ill.In the practice of my invention I may employ a single roll or aplurality of rolls. In Figure 2 I illustrate 8 rolls of firbous corddisposed in the glue vessel i2. In the practice of my invention the cordl l is unwound from the rolls Ill with the rolls revolving in the gluecontained in the glue vessel. In the drawing, I illustrate the rolls offibrous cord It being completely immersed below the level of the glueindicated by the reference character [3. The cords l l as they areunwound from the rolls Ill pass over a roller i4 suitably supported uponthe upper edge of the glue vessel I2. As illustrated in Figure 6, eachof the rolls of fibrous cord is carried by a roll holding device i 5which may be adjustably fastened to cross bars H supported on top of theglue vessel 2. The roll holding devices is may be adjustable in avertical manner by any suitable means and as illustrated I employ a wingnut it which may be manually turned for making the adjustment or formountin a new roll in the glue vessel l2. The rolls of fibrous cord arepreferably wound with a space between the adjacent layers of the cord sothat the glue may gradually soak itself easily into the roll. In thismonner the glue is given a relatively long period of time in which tosoak into the cord before the cord passes out of the glue vessel H. Inthe practice of my invention I preferably immerse the entire roll ofcord below the level of the glue but I find that satisfactory resultsmay be obtained if the roll is not entirely immersed because the rollrevolves as the cord is withdrawn therefrom. Thus, the layers of thecord upon the roll are soaked with glue long prior to the time that thelast layer or outside layer is withdrawn from the roll. Anotheradvantage of withdrawing the cord with the roll revolving in the glue isthat I do not need to employ rollers to force the glue into the cord andaccordingly I obviate the requirement of putting a great deal of tensionupon the cord as it is removed fromthe glue vessel. In addition, therevolving rolls agitate the glue and keep the consistency uniform.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, after the cord leaves the glue vessel 52 itpasses through a glue setting device indicated by the referencecharacter 20 which may comprise rubber-like or spongelike materialthrough which the impregnated cords pass as a suitable liquid of gluesetting characteristic is pumped upon the rubber-like or sponge-likematerial from a tank 2| by means of a pump 22 and a pipe 23. By thecirculating arrangement as illustrated, the rubber-like or sponge-likematerial through which the impregnated cord passes is always maintainedin a wet condition with the glue setting liquid.

After the cords of impregnated fibrous material pass through the gluesetting device, they are then directed to a reversing drive roller meanscarried by a support 26 and driven by an electric motor or othersuitable drive 25. The reversing drive roller means may comprise asingle drive roller 24 as shown in Figure 2 or double drive rollers 24and 21 as shown in Figure 1. The arrangement of Figure 1 is preferableas the glue setting liquid is given an opportunity to trickle down thevertical cord between the two rollers 21 and 24 which greatlyfacilitates the drying of the cord. That is to say, any excess gluesetting liquid on the cord is caused to drain off the cord before itpasses over the roll 21. The

impregnated cords pass from the reversing drive roller means to atake-up reel 29 carried by a support 3| and driven by a motor 30. Asdiagrammatically illustrated, the motor 30 also reciprocally drives aguide 33 by a transmitting movement illustrated diagrammatically by thedash-dot line 34. The guide 33 as it oscillates back and forth providesfor directing the cords of the impregnated material upon the take-upreel 39 to give substantially a level wind. The guide 33 preferably isdesigned to make one traverse for each revolution of the wheel to make acries-cross wind to keep the cords from sticking together as much aspossible.

The impregnated cords as they pass around the driving roller means aresticky and thus the driving roller means provides for withdrawing thecords from the glue vessel and through the glue setting device 20.Consequently, the take-up reel 29 is relieved of providing the necessarypull to withdraw the cords from the glue vessel I2 and from drawing theimpregnated cords through the glue setting device. In other words, thetension of the cords as they are wound upon the take-up reel isrelatively slight being only that required to take up the slack betweenthe reversing drive roller means and the take-up reel 29. This is animportant feature in that the impregnated cords are not wound tightlyabout the take-up reel which would tend to make the cords stick togetheras they dry. An air drying chamber 35 may be employed to hasten thedrying of the glue. As illustrated in Figure 1, the impregnated cord isarranged to pass through the air drying chamber 35 as it leaves the gluevessel I2 and prior-to reaching the glue setting device 20 and the cordas it returns from the reversing drive roller 2'! may also again passthrough the air drying chamber 35 before being wound upon the take-upreel 29. Care must be exercised that the air drying chamber does not drythe glue too quickly as it may tend to destroy the beneficial results ofthe glue impregnated in the fibrous cord for bristle purposes.

After the cords are wound upon the take-up reel 29 they are permited todry in atmosphere until they have dried sufiicientiy so that they nolonger stick together when they are separated. I provide for separatingthe layers of cord on the take-up reel 29 by removing the cord from thetake-up reel and re-winding it upon a severing reel 57. This isillustrated in Figures 3 and 4. The support 33 for the take-up reel 29is provided with casters 32 so that the take-up reel 29 may be rolledover in alignment with the severing reel 3'3. While the take-up reel 29is being unwound as shown in Figures 3 and 4 a spare take-up reel 29 maybe used to carry out the process in Figures 1 and 2 while the processesin Figures 3 and 4 are likewise being carried out. The severing reel issupported by a support 38 and may be driven by a motor 39 which alsooperates a guide 32 for: directing the cords upon the severing reel 3?.The motor 39 may drive the guide in any suitable manner and asillustrated it may be oscillated back and forth by means of atransmitting movement indicated by the dash-dot line 3%. As shown inFigure 4, the severing reel 3'3 is provided with two halves 40 and Mupon which the impregnated cords may be wound. The cord is first woundupon one half such, for exampl as the half 4! until the reel issubstantially full and then the layers of cord are tied at intervals bythe tying cord 43. After one-half is filled then the other half, for

impregnated cords in the groups of impregnated v cord-do not sticktogether as they have been separated when the cords are unwound from thetake-up reel 29 and wound upon the severing reel 31. The groups ofimpregnated cord 44 may be suspended from a suitable hook in a dryingroom where the impregnated cords. are further allowed to dry or they maybe dried in a quicker the reference character 41 carried by a support48, see Figures 8 and 9. The revolving drying wheel is provided with aseries of peripherally arranged screen compartments 50 to receive thegroups of impregnated cord 46. Each of the screen compartments 50 isprovided with a hinged screen cover so that the groups of impregnatedcord may be readily placed in the screen compartments of the revolvingdrying wheel by merely opening the hinged screen cover and placing thegroups ofimpregnated cord longitudinally cross-wise therein. Therevolving drying wheel 41 may be revolved by a motor 48 which readilyhastens the drying of the impregnated cords.

As shown in Figure '7, thebottom corners of the glue vessel [2 are roundso that the rolls of fibrous material may be arranged to revolverelatively close thereto as the cord II is Withdrawn therefrom. Therevolving of the rolls I0 relatively close to the round corners keepsthe glue or other viscous substance which may have finally a dividedabrasive material therein from collecting in the corners as it would doif the corners of the glue vessel were square. The glue vessel I2 ispreferably made with a water or steam jacket and the heat is applied tothe outside of the water or steam jacket. In the drawing the steamjacket is not shown but the heat is applied as indicated fashion by arevolving drying wheel indicated by by way of example and that numerouschanges in the details of construction and the combination andarrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from thespirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. The process of impregnating a fibrous cord with viscous gluecomprising the steps of winding the cord in a wound roll with spacebetween adjacent turns so that the glue may penetrate the wound rollbetween adjacent turns when the roll is placed in the glue, soaking thewound roll of the fibrous cord in the viscous glue and thereby allowingtheglue to penetrate the turns of the cord prior to the time that thecord is withdrawn from the roll, withdrawing the soaked cord from theroll at a point below the level of the glue while the roll remains inthe glue, and revolving the roll as it is withdrawn to keep the gluewell agitated around the roll.

2. The process of impregnating a fibrous cord with viscous gluecomprising the steps of winding the cord in a wound roll with spacebetween adjacent turns so that the glue may penetrate the wound rollbetween adjacent turns when the roll is placed in the glue, soaking thewound roll of the fibrous cord in the viscous glue and thereby Iallowing the glue to penetrate the turns of the cord prior to the timethat the cord is Withdrawn from the roll, withdrawing the soaked cordfrom the roll while the roll remains in the glue, and agitating the gluearound the roll as the cord.is withdrawn.

3. The process of producing a fibrous bristle for brushes comprising thesteps of impregnating a fibrous cord with viscous glue by winding thecord in a wound roll with space between adjacent turns so that the gluemay penetrate the wound roll between adjacent turns when the roll isplaced in the glue, soaking the wound roll of the fibrous V cord in theviscous glue and thereby allowing by the arrows which include heatingmethods of all kinds.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree ofparticularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has beenmade only the glue to penetrate the turns of the cord prior to the timethat the cord is withdrawn from the roll, withdrawing the soaked cordfrom the roll while the roll remains in the glue and agitating the gluearound the roll as the .cord is withdrawn, passing the unwound cordthrough a glue setting device, and then severing the impregnated cord atintervals to make the bristles.

JOHN OVERBEKE.

